Let’s set the scene - it’s a sweltering 39 degrees in Spring (in Celsius of course), the kind of heat that makes the air shimmer and the tools too hot to touch. The pollen is out in full force (it’s 100% worse this year), and the skylights are working overtime to pull in whatever breeze they can muster…and you’re oiling a kitchen bench top.

Essentially, we’re on the final home straight - but my goodness it’s the longest home straight we’ve been on!

Shower Doors

Now that we have electricity in the house we’ve been making the most of having power. The light along with daylight savings has made our construction days longer and has given way to our main headline: the shower door saga. We decided to go with a glass door — a sleek, but heavy choice that instantly makes the bathroom feel bigger. It was, however, not without drama. The plan was to hinge the door on the left side of the bathroom, until we realised that the two mounting channels were slightly different in size. We had already silicone-d all the edges and there was no way that we could remove the channel. It felt like one of those Grand Design moments where the couple has a meltdown because the the $50,000 marble bench top cracks or the concrete won’t set in time before the rain. Cue an emergency pivot (literally) — the hinge now lives on the right, and we live with the mistake.

Erny highly doubts anyone will notice (though if you read this blog you will know). There is something very house like having a glass door compared to a shower curtain. A hundred times heavier than a shower curtain, but about a thousand times more satisfying.

Kitchens

With the bathroom starting to come together, our attention turned back to the kitchen. The carcasses we cut months ago were finally assembled (no IKEA flat pack for us), filling out the space and giving a sense of what cooking here might feel like. Lys spent over eight hours — yes, eight — sanding down reclaimed Tasmanian blackwood from Erny’s brother’s school renovation. It’s rich and warm, full of grain and character. We added a gentle curve to the island top, and it feels perfect. For the first time, we have a surface at waist height to work off, and it’s glorious.

See the photos and read more here!